“For calling my stubborn arse out,” he said, voice lowering slightly. He forgot sometimes, that he could very much drop the military act, actually be a human with her. It happened very few and far between, actually there had probably only been one other time when he'd let that military side come through and that was when he'd been faced with her Ex. So he knew he'd done well, but there were moments if only fleeting that he forgot to let it go and this had just compiled into how bad he'd been feeling about leaving Atlantis until she'd called him out on his rubbish.

He closed his eyes for a moment as she twisted her fingers through his hair, it was soothing and he felt himself relax even more, his breath evening out from the crazy sex they'd just shared. It was at these moments, the moment where they were just together, no words needed to be shared that he wondered how lucky he'd gotten. This woman in front of him, his partner, his best friend, his E hoa wahine, well his everything really was his.

Blinking open his eyes again he smiled softly at her, his hand never stopping his pattern it was tracing against her skin, even as she shifted onto her side his hand just went with her. He chuckled as she made the comment about not getting any sleep that night, and as much as he would have loved to have just rolled her on top of him and let her have her wicked way with him, it wasn't going to happen.

The lack of sleep from the previous nights, the endless fun they'd just had, and the afterglow that was currently running through him, made for one very, very sleepy sailor. He found himself half scrunching down the bed a bit to lay his head on her free shoulder for a moment, just taking a moments comfort from her, before kissing it softly before looking back up at her.

“Bit better,” he said, it wasn't so much a damn black hole in his chest any more, but it hadn't completely gone either. He thought it wouldn't completely disappear not yet, but looking at Claire in the dim light of the room, he knew it was going to get better. “Never meant to keep anything from you, never,” he said, his voice sleep ridden, even as his eyes closed once more, it was a note of pride that he made sure to tell Claire everything. He'd let himself down in that regard. “We should sleep,” he mumbled, “big day tomorrow.”

Claire lifted her head off the pillow for a few seconds, reaching for Caleb's lips with her, capturing them in a soft, sweet, if brief, kiss before her head fell back to the pillow. "It's what I'm here for," she breathed, her voice sleepy and soft as she settled back against the pillow. One of the things that they had always done for one another was check each other on their bullshit, and that included lifting one another up when they felt down. Sometimes, that level of honesty wasn't comfortable, but it was what kept things on an even keel.

The quiet moments were gold. They were all too rare on Atlantis, what the city having to be in a state of readiness at all times, and even days off were never really downtime. There was always the chance for an emergency to take either one of them away from whatever they had planned. Unfortunately, that happened all too often. And, while both of them were missing Atlantis after almost eight weeks away from it, it was good to have been able to spend time just as a couple, as a family.

Caleb's fingers relentlessly traced gentle patterns on her stomach, never letting up, and Claire had to take a deep breath to try to ignore the feelings that he was still invoking in her. Still, they were both sleepy, Caleb in particular, and Claire dropped a soft kiss onto the top of his head as he rested on her shoulder for a moment.

Her own body was heavy with sleep now, and she reached down and linked her fingers with Caleb's, stopping the movement on her stomach. Tugging his hand, Claire pulled Caleb's arm until it was draped around her. She slipped her leg between his, and snuggled in, her own arm now firmly around his waist.

"Only a bit better," she teased, kissing him softly once more, even as his eyes fluttered closed again. "I guess I need to up my game." Now wasn't the time, though. Now was the time to close the day off, and head towards the new one. "I love you," Claire murmured, her lips lightly brushing Caleb's as she spoke, falling ever closer to her own slumber, until she finally gave in to her dreams.

Caleb just hummed in sleepy delight as Claire made promises about upping her game, he wasn't really coherent now, sleep was creeping up on him fast and now everything was kind of out in the open he wanted to sleep. He let himself be tugged around slightly, as she pulled his hand away from her stomach, and he curled into her even more. It was these kind of moments that he loved falling asleep in her arms, her protecting him for a change, him being vulnerable.

Sleep claimed him a few seconds later, his head resting against hers...

* * *

Waking was a slow process, normally he would be awake, up and ready to go, part of the military training that wasn't so easy to actually let go of, even on a day off. But that morning, after so much time spent not actually sleeping, he was slow to wake this morning. The sun was warming his back nicely, as he opened his eyes, getting an eye full of Claire's chest. They hadn't actually made it to clothing after they'd finished, they had – if he remembered rightly – had just passed out. The thing he hadn't expected was to find himself basically cuddling with Claire as he was.

His legs were tangled up with hers, his head was on her chest, and he was pretty sure one of her arms were tucked underneath him, which meant if he didn't move soon she would end up with a very dead arm. But he couldn't really bring himself to move just yet, he was warm, he was content, he'd just had the best nights sleep he'd had in a very long time, moving wasn't actually on the agenda.

Also with the amount of times he'd left their bed with her still asleep, he didn't really want her to wake up with him out of the bed again, not yet. Part of him still felt slightly guilty that he had caused her to worry as much as she had about him, kicked himself for not talking to her earlier, and although that tight feeling in his chest was still there, it wasn't quite as tight as it had been last night.

Letting out a small puff of air, watching as it made Claire's skin goosebumps up, he huffed out a laugh before kissing the skin just at the top of her breast. If he was going to wake his wife up anyway, it was going to in a pleasurable way and not the way he had been doing the last few nights, if it was also a distraction so he didn't have to talk about things straight away then he was also going to let himself be distracted.

Feeling a puff of air on her breast, followed up by a kiss, a slow, sleepy smile spread across Claire's lips. She could feel sunlight on her face, indicating that they had slept late. It was warmer than pre-spring sunlight had any right to be, and a fleeting thought about the potential heat promised for the forthcoming day.

A small sigh escaped her lips as she swam up towards full consciousness, and she felt her body pressed deliciously up against Caleb's, their limbs a heavy tangle, and his lips teasing her chest. One of her arms was trapped underneath him, and Claire wriggled to free it, her eyes flickering open as she leaned her head down to drop a kiss onto Caleb's hair.

"Morning, sleepyhead," she murmured, brushing fingers through Caleb's messy hair. "Don't think I've known you sleep this long since we've been together." She chose not to glance at the clock. She couldn't care less what time it was. All that mattered was that Caleb had seemingly slept better than he had done for a while.

Claire scooted down the bed, tracing fingers across Caleb's cheek before catching his lips between hers. "How are you feeling this morning, e ipo? Sleep okay in the end?" Part of her didn't want to move, didn't want to leave the bed that day, but knew that Caleb had been planning. No way was she going to wreck whatever plans he had made for them; she was in his hands for Valentine's Day, no matter what he had planned.

Caleb didn't particularly want to move even as Claire shuffled herself down so they were face to face again, which he didn't mean, he could spend hours (had done on one of the bad nights he'd had) just staring at her. Wondering exactly how he managed to end up with someone that could basically see through some of the bullshit he put on, not only that, to end up with someone that could match him, toe to toe, flirt to flirt. It was heedy mixture.

“It helps when you have the worlds most comfortable pillow to sleep on,” he replied, smiling as he dropped a kiss on her nose, he was feeling particularly soft and silly in that moment. The world forgotten as he all but lay in her arms.

He sighed, closing his eyes briefly, he hadn't wanted to think about what had actually caused him to wake up in the beginning, what they'd discussed before they had distracted each other. Glorious distraction as it was, he knew they would still have to talk about things, of course things never seemed as bad in the light of day.

“Better, a lot better this morning,” he said, voice quiet, not wanting to disrupt the peace between them too much, looking at her he added, “You know I never meant to keep that crap from you Claire, never.”

It was true, they never kept things from each other, not even when they'd been friends did he keep things from her, if she had asked, then he'd tell her. A night hadn't gone in his favour, he'd tell her, a night have gone in his favour he'd tell her, everything, they were best friends first and foremost to each other. It was one of the reasons why it had taken him so long to realise that he'd fallen in love with her, because he had a friend, a close friend, one that knew when his flirting was joking and when it was covering up more serious hurts. There had been times he'd flirt to get out of a hurtful conversation.

They knew each other so well, and even though they'd been together for near enough two years now – if not longer – it still scared him at times that when he felt bad, she'd pick up on it. But he was grateful that she had that ability, because he wouldn't have said anything otherwise.

Reaching up he pushed some of her hair behind her ear, smiling softly at her, he wasn't CPO Williams with her, he wasn't just some military grunt that got asked to do the shit shifts whilst on base, he wasn't the bed hopping hound that people still believed him to be. He was just Caleb, no rank, no titles, no nothing, just Caleb when he was with her.

He kissed her once more, just a chaste kiss, one that promised lots for later but didn't start anything there, not that he wasn't interested of course. He had a very prominent sexy woman in bed besides him that was completely naked, it was just, despite everything he did have plans today. “Shower? Breakfast?” he asked, smiling at her brightly, he'd so totally share a shower with her, save time.

Lying there in the morning sunlight, her eyes tracing over Caleb's face, there was nowhere else Claire would rather be. Despite their little late night conversation, Claire felt unusually calm and rested. Caleb seemed far more relaxed as well, and, for that, she was glad. Caleb was always so happy-go-lucky that it was easy to forget that he felt things deeply, and often hid things that upset and hurt him behind that facade.

Claire laughed as he kissed the tip of her nose, and scooted that little bit closer, feeling Caleb's warm body against hers. She could quite happily stay there all day, but, more's the pity, she knew it wasn't going to happen. She smiled as he told her he was feeling better.

"Good," she murmured, kissing him softly again. "And don't worry about it, I know you didn't. Sometimes, there just wasn't an easy way to say something, and, added to the fact that Caleb didn't always find it easy to share his feelings, she wasn't surprised that he had bottled things up. She knew he would find it hard to change, hard to make sure that he opened up when needed, and Claire knew she would just have to be there when things like this happened.

Claire smiled more deeply as Caleb brushed a few strands of hair behind her ear, the gesture tender and intimate, and she let her own fingers trace over his cheek once more. She would never have imagined that they would have fallen in love. Even their friendship went against the grain, with the pair of them seemingly so different. However, they complemented one another perfect, each completing the other in the most wonderful and unexpected ways.

The kiss that followed was gentle and chaste, and, despite her urge to deepen it, Claire knew that Caleb had plans for them both that day. She laughed as he suggested a shower and breakfast. "If that's all that's on offer, e taku tahu. I'll take what I can get," she chuckled, kissing him one more time. "Although you realise, if we share a shower, we're not likely to be going anywhere soon?"

Caleb all but pouted at her when she said about just showering and showering only, normally nine times out of ten they ended up sleeping together on a bed, mainly because no matter how much he wanted her he never really liked the thought of just having sex in any old place. Of course that didn't always happen, there first hour here he had kind of taken her up against the door, their first bit of privacy since they'd returned from Atlantis. It had been urgent, demanding, rough, but none the less fun and loving, the first time in a long time where they had been on there own, it was a nice memory to look back on.

He put on a mock sad face, “But it's Valentines day, aren't you meant to spoil the man of your dreams on that day?” He knew it was meant to be the other way around, he knew everyone always said you were meant to propose to the woman, shower the woman with gifts, but well he was going to play it the other way around.

Huffing out a sigh again, he pushed her backwards so he was hovering over her the smile completely full blown on his face now, as he leant down to give her kisses, still nothing to ignite anything. Despite them both still being very naked, he did have to wonder for a split second where the sheet from the bed had gone, until he pushed the thought from his mind, house keeping would pick it up at some point he was sure.

Gazing down at her, he said, “What if I promise to be really good? Then we can share a shower, have breakfast and then go...” he stopped as he realised he nearly gave away what they were going to do that day.

Claire laughed as Caleb almost pouted at the mention of "just" showering. There wasn't a hope in hell that, if they shared a shower, that it would remain "just" a shower. She'd have to be dead for that to happen. "You remember you asked me to ask nicely last night," she said, her voice teasing, and, to match her tone, she trailed a lazy hand down his chest, stopping just short of things getting more interesting. "Maybe it's your turn to ask nicely..."

He didn't have any intention of asking her nicely, from the looks of it. Pushing her backwards onto the bed, Caleb reared over her, raining kisses on her. They were light, inconsequential kisses, but enough to get Claire's blood racing, and she responded in kind by slipping a hand behind his head and tugging him into a kiss that was altogether more suggestive.

"Sometimes, e taku tahu, I don't need you to be really good," murmured Claire, knowing, though, that this was his way of putting a stop to anything more than literally just sharing a shower, washing one another down. "So a shower - just a shower, then breakfast, then..." She reached up and kissed him again, warm and inviting. "Then... what? Are you going to tell me what we're up to today?"

Caleb was laughing as he held himself over her, if there was one thing the two of them could very much do it was just laugh together at all times over anything. It was a very good job they didn't work together all that much because he was sure they wouldn't get anything done besides from laughing. He lowered himself down very carefully, almost in the push up kind of way, eyes sparkling with mischief, “I can ask very nicely,” he whispered breath ghosting across her face, almost in a kiss.

It would be all to easy to just give in to what was between them, to let himself just go with what was basically inadvertent by this point, it wasn't like they got to stay like this all that often. Just two people no ranks, no titles, no pressure, no people running around them asking them to do something, it was probably why the honeymoon phase had never seemed to have worn off for them. Because they didn't get to be like this, all the time, this was something special.

Of course as a hand trailed to behind his head and pulled him in for a kiss, he let himself fall nearly completely on top of her, even as her hand stopped at a most frustrating part, not dipping lower, no matter how much he really wanted her to. Damn he didn't realise just how much Claire teased him at times, of course two could always play at that game, and it was always such a good game.

He trailed a kiss from her mouth to her neck, his hands roaming on every bit of skin possible, there were times when he found he couldn't quite keep his hands to himself when he was with her. Even when they weren't on their own, he'd find a way to gently brush up against her, maybe place a hand on her arm as he passed, just small little ways so he was always on contact with her. Even now as he trailed a hand from her shoulder down her chest, stopping at her side for a moment as he smiled in between kisses, he didn't want to break contact, but, well he wasn't in a mischievous mood for nothing and well they had to shower together to save time.

His own hand stopped at her hip, just shy of offering her any kind of friction or pleasure, as he lifted his head, “Lots today, sweetheart, lots and lots,” he answered, smiling at her, “If you don't want me to be good, then follow...”

Before he near enough jumped off the bed, arms spread wide in an inviting gesture as he walked backwards towards the shower, he'd made a mental note of the layout of the room from the other night, and even as he stumbled slightly over the discarded clothes, he made it all the way to the bathroom walking backwards.

He pushed the door to slightly to keep the room warm as he turned the shower on, “You coming Claire?” he asked innocently enough.

"Oh, I bet you can," replied Claire, her voice a sultry whisper. Caleb knew exactly what he was doing to her, whether he had plans on following through or not, and it was driving her crazy. She wondered whether he even knew the effect he had on her, half the time, before deciding that he absolutely did.

Claire let out a small "oof" as Caleb let his weight settle on top of her, and she felt certain parts of her tighten in desire again. She wondered whether she would ever stop wanting him, ever stop needing him, and she hoped not. She wanted to grow old with him, be one of those couples who still looked at one another as though they were the only ones in the room, who couldn't imagine going on without the other. Caleb was her soulmate, of that she was certain, and she would do whatever it took to protect that.

The kiss burned on, and Caleb continued to tease her, trailing lips down her neck, his hands roaming everywhere, but stopping short of where they would give her most pleasure. There was no way he didn't know what he was doing to her, and Claire let out a throaty moan, even as Caleb hopped up off the bed, with an invitation she couldn't refuse.

Pushng herself up and swinging her legs over the side of the bed, Claire shivered as her bare feet met cool tile, and shot Caleb a look as he almost tripped over their clothes from the night before. "I certainly hope so," she murmured, crossing the room, and, placing a hand on Caleb's chest, pushed him backwards into the bathroom. She had a feeling this could take a while.

------------------------------

"So, what should I wear today, e ipo," asked Claire, untying the fluffy white hotel robe, their room service breakfast having been well and truly demolished. "You might want to tell me now, otherwise..." Her tone turned wicked, and her eyes sparkled. "Otherwise, I might not get dressed at all..." Not that she had any intention of keeping the two of them there all day, but it was fun to tease.